DA: 'No personal benefit' from free meals

Dumanis says her socializing is nothing like South Bay defendants

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis answered criticism on Wednesday after a state ethics complaint was filed by a supporter of a political rival, claiming she failed to report accepting free meals from various organizations.

Similar omissions from required state disclosure forms were the subject of criminal charges against school officials in South County in one of Dumanis’s highest-profile prosecutions.

Her office said any comparison between her own socializing and events in South County was wrongheaded.

“The individuals in the South Bay cases were accused of setting up private meetings to accept lavish gifts in exchange for funneling millions of dollars of business to contractors,” spokesman Steve Walker said. “Bonnie Dumanis lawfully attended a wide variety of civic and charity events in her official capacity as District Attorney where she gained no personal benefit.”

Yes, she should
63% (507)

No, she shouldn't
25% (200)

She shouldn't accept free tickets to events like this
13% (102)

809 total votes.

The South County probe eventually led to charges against 18 people and included allegations of bribery, extortion and perjury.

Almost all have pleaded guilty to less serious charges — including several who pleaded guilty and were sentenced for not properly reporting on state disclosure forms free meals and trips that they received. The forms are designed to guard against conflicts of interest.

Dumanis now stands accused of similar flaws on her own forms in a complaint to the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission — filed by a supporter of an opposing candidate for district attorney on the June 3 ballot.

That complaint alleges that Dumanis attended numerous dinners, luncheons and galas over the past two years but did not report them. Several groups listed in the complaint confirmed to U-T Watchdog that they gave complimentary tickets for dinners to Dumanis in 2013, none of which appear on her disclosure forms.

Her office on Wednesday said she was not obligated to report the gifts, but did not explain why.

The complaint is now under review by the agency. Dumanis’s campaign has dismissed the complaint as politically motivated. That’s not how lawyers for some defendants saw it.

“It’s just astounding,” said Allen Bloom, the lawyer for former Sweetwater Union High School District trustee Arlie Ricasa, who pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor of not properly filling out her disclosure forms. “It’s beyond irony that this conduct was taking place.”

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Bloom said that a condition of Ricasa’s guilty plea was that she immediately resign her seat on the board.

“Dumanis basically said that this conduct by my client made her unfit to hold office,” Bloom said. “But now, here she is going forward with her own political campaign saying she is fit to hold the office of the chief law enforcement officer in the county.”

In the South Bay cases, prosecutors contended that the free meals, trips and gifts were given to influence the decision making process, and not reporting them intentionally hid the close relationships between contractors and officials from the public.

There is no allegation in the complaint that the free meals for Dumanis were given in exchange for political favors.

Kevin McDermott, the lawyer for former Southwestern College administrator John Wilson, said that does not matter.

“She’s accepting benefits from organizations that can elevate her exposure to the general public, and make her name even more recognizable,” he said. “You might not find the proverbial smoking gun in terms of a kickback, but this is still a classic way of politicians expanding their image with the public. And it’s a freebie.”

Dumanis is being challenged in her bid for a fourth term by Bob Brewer and Terri Wyatt. A supporter of Brewer filed the state complaint. Another supporter of Brewer filed a complaint with the city ethics commission on Wednesday on another matter.

The complaint alleges Dumanis has failed to unhand more than $10,000 in money given to her 2012 mayoral campaign as part of a foreign-money scheme now under prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Dumanis said she intends to do so soon.